1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for orthopedic treatment of jaw fractures or misaligned teeth, wherein ring-shaped dental bands which loop around the teeth are releasably fastened to at least two teeth of a jaw.
2. Description of Prior Art
Such appliances are commercially available in many varied embodiments. Ring-shaped dental bands are fastened by a special cement on individual teeth of a jaw. Short tubes are soldered to the dental bands and are used for receiving straps and tensioning elements. The tensioning elements transfer directed forces to the individual teeth and thus also to the jaw.
Food remnants enter the area between the dental band and the tooth during eating and are converted into aggressive acids, which after prolonged reaction attack and destroy the enamel of a tooth. Regular cleaning of the space is omitted because the cemented connection would have to be removed, which also causes damage to the tooth enamel.
Another device is known from DE 41 19 942 A1. In this case a strip of material is placed around the outer surface of a tooth. A holder is soldered to the one end of the strip of material, the other end is bent to form a loop-like receiver. A wire is threaded into the loop-shaped receiver and placed around the holder. The free ends of the wire are twisted together, so that the ends of the dental band move toward each other and thus clamp the dental band around the tooth.
Such a dental band can only be employed with those teeth which have a distance from neighboring teeth which is greater than the thickness of the dental band. However, with misaligned teeth in particular the teeth are placed closely together and the dental band cannot easily be placed around the tooth. A special hammer which is used for placing ring-shaped dental bands cannot be used here, since the strip of material has a relatively high degree of instability and tends to bend. A further disadvantage of such a device is that sufficient tensioning forces cannot be achieved because of the twisting of the wire ends, so that the dental band cannot absorb large reaction forces, such as those which occur in connection with correcting misaligned teeth. As a result, the conventional dental bands are displaced on the tooth and the transmitted forces act in uncontrollable directions. For compensation the dental band is provided with holes which can be filled with a special cement, so that the dental band is also held by a connection between the materials. However, the known disadvantages for the tooth enamel again occur because of cementing.